DI is similar to Ghost but is easier to use and has more options than the version of Ghost I've seen. This may be old info if Ghost has been updated.

DI 7 makes backups on the fly without the need to go to a "Dos" enviroment. DI 7 can also split files into a burnable size if the resulting backup image is too big to fit on whatever disks you are planning to burn to. These split backup files do not need to be burned directly from DI, they can be saved to a hard drive and burned later. Last time I checked Ghost did not have such options.

Any Ghost users know if Ghost has been improved to include these features?

Symantec bought PowerQuest so they don't care which you use. One reason was they liked the "hot backup" option, good for corporate customers, so it's been put into Ghost as well.. (I used to work for them)

So . . . if I want the fastest & cheapest way to recover a hard drive I should do what - get a portable CDR/W? One of my main problems is that I'm using Windows 98 SE on 29 machines & I'm a bit leary of the USB compatibility of the drive I need to order. \(This is not a joke reply - I'm really this ignorant)

So . . . if I want the fastest & cheapest way to recover a hard drive I should do what - get a portable CDR/W? One of my main problems is that I'm using Windows 98 SE on 29 machines & I'm a bit leary of the USB compatibility of the drive I need to order. \(This is not a joke reply - I'm really this ignorant)

I think it is a good question. You may need to suppy more info about exactly what you are wanting to do. Are all 29 machines the same? If so you can keep an image on a server (or anywhere actually) and "push" the image out to the machines to keep em like new all the time. This only works if the machines are the same and if the software does not need to stay current.

Do the machines not have their own burners?

Getting an image made is one thing, as you are using a system that is fully operational. RESTORING an image is another matter.

If the systems are old enough to be running 98 their hard drives are likely not that big by modern standards and seperate images for all of them may fit on a single modern hard drive. You might be able to buy a portable HD or an internal and USB enclosure to fit your backups on.

An internal DVD burner is about $65 bucks and a USB2 enclosure to put it in is about $35.

Hmmmm your systems are old enough to lack usb2, which is going to be a problem with any USB portable drive.

OK my best guess at what you can do is to set up one machine to be a server. The server will need a new internal hard drive or two depending on how big the images are. BTW they do have NICs correct? On a machine that old the fastest external connection is the network. More modern machines have USB2 and firewire in addition to a NIC card.

Anyway there is no point in me guessing what you are trying to do without more info. I'll try to help further after we get some more cards on the table.

I suspect the computers will eventually get messed up - my goal, if possible, is to be able to plug something into one of the computers, "push a button" and have the core o/s & s/w reloaded onto the hard drive. I don't think having a complete, exact image of the drive is important, that if I just copy over what's there with an original copy, that everything will work. If not, I can format, reload Win 98 SE, the drivers, the s/w & so forth.

I just remembered - somewhere, I have an old Syquest 1 GB portable disk drive that I might be able to use for this, which plugs into a parallel port. The software to run this thing fits onto a floppy. I have a zillion of those 1 GB drives (this was before CDR/W machines were available/affordable). Maybe I could use this thing to achieve my goal. Sounds like it might work - all the o/s on one drive, all the CAD s/w on another drive, & so forth.

How big are the hard drives?
Use partition magic or similar to partition the drives into two, but the second drive can be "invisible" to the host OS. You then use Ghost (or DriveImage) to make a good copy of the image. Then, WHEN it gets hosed, insert bootable CD or disc with Ghost on it, and 'restore' the image.

If new software is loaded on the machines, use a clean restore first, then back it up again to the second partition..
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Partitioning would mean I'd have to start all over again from scratch, right? Yipes, I don't wanna do that if possible. Or, would it mean just copying the external device with the image on it to each machine? Now, that seems nice & easy. Hmmmm.

So - I guess I could used the right software with an external cdr/w drive, I could make an image of the entire hard drive "as is"?

I think it's time for me to jump into learning more about DI or Ghost & go from there - many thanks & happy flyin',

What Andy said to do is exactly how I do my single hd systems. I normally make the backup on the extra partition AND burn a copy. A backup on a hard drive does not help if the drive is going bad but is is very handy and fast if there is a software issue. The CD copy is useful if something takes your hd out and you need to load up a new hd fast.